


The Test

by Eeva21



Category: Original Work
Genre: Genderfluid Character, Middle School, Nonbinary Character, School, Utopia, utopian society
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26092948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eeva21/pseuds/Eeva21
Summary: Class 3A is about to do the life-changing, government-issued, Test in school that will determine their gender. Best friends, Hollis and Spencer aren't so sure about the whole thing and are absolutely dreading it.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	The Test

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago and just thought I'd post it here. It's one of the short stories I wrote that I actually kind of like. Enjoy!

It was an odd thing, really. Class 3A had been waiting for this moment for their entire lives. Their whole lives would change after The Test. This was supposed to be one of their happiest days in their entire lives. 

But everyone had the jitters. No one seemed to be able to stay still.

“My mom bought me a purple bow,” Harper told their friends, lightly touching the soft material. 

Hollis rubbed their shoulders with their hands, looking almost sadly at Harper’s pretty purple bow. They knew they’d never get to wear something as nice as that.

The classroom was dead silent after Harper announced their bow, each student taking their seat at their desk. Waiting. Waiting for Mr. Chalfon to arrive and put everything in motion.

The walls were white, the board was white, the floor and desks were white. Everything was colourless. But, after today, everyone’s lives were promised to be full of colours—and, more specifically, one colour.

Spencer pushed up their wire glasses, their hand shaking so much that the glasses just ended up even more askew than before. 

Hollis quietly turned around in their seat, facing Spencer. Even though they tried to keep their voice low, everyone seemed to be staring at them. Listening.

“You got this, Spence,” Hollis said, a small smile appearing on their face for their best friend. “We both got this.” It seemed as though Hollis’ voice had broken the silent barrier and the class erupted like shards of glass.

“My mom is positive I’ll be a girl!” Murphy announced. “She says I’ve got that ‘ _look_ ’.”

The two twins, Quinn and Finn began muttering to each other. 

“I don’t want to be a girl so I suppose I’ll be a boy,” August said to Frankie and Skyler.

“I don’t want to choose!” Spencer hissed to Hollis quietly, feeling relief as the chatter seemed to rise and fall around them and Hollis. “I like being me. I don’t want a gender assigned to me.”

Hollis chewed the inside of their lip, running their hands through their long, shiny, chestnut hair. “I wish there was another way too. I was contemplating feigning sickness today.”

Spencer’s eyes widened behind their glasses. “Holly, you know what happens if you miss The Test.” Their throat thickened and they swallowed hard. 

“It would be better than being a male my entire life,” Hollis muttered bitterly. “I’d rather take the punishment than...than me being someone who I’m not.”

Their voices were barely above a whisper but it felt as though everyone was listening. 

Spencer grabbed Hollis’ arm and squeezed tightly. “We just have to get through this day together. It’s only a test, right?” 

At that moment, Mr. Chalfon walked in, sweating buckets and looking almost as nervous as the entire class felt. The class’ chatter died down again and Hollis squeezed Spencer’s hand back before quickly turning to face the front.

“Good morning, students,” Mr. Chalfon said, forcing a smile on his face. “I hope you’re all excited for today.” His voice sounded as though he were attending a funeral. 

Mr. Chalfon walked to the windows, the only thing that brought some kind of colour through the room, and pressed a button. White material climbed up the glass, blocking the light and the colour.

Spencer sunk into their desk. Hollis bit their lip. 

“Are you ready?” Mr. Chalfon asked, his fingers tapping on his desk. “Anyone need to use the bathroom? Once you start The Test, you won’t be able to leave until you’ve finished.”

Hollis was thinking about raising their hand and never coming back to class 3A. They shifted uneasily in their chair. Hollis felt Spencer move quietly and felt a soft poke in the back. _Don’t you dare_ , Spencer seemed to say. Hollis didn’t raise their hand.

Mr. Chalfon nodded. “Okay, everyone. Only one rule: answer all questions truthfully. The government _will_ know if you’re lying.”

The only thing that Spencer could think was: _then why do a test?_

“Alright,” Mr. Chalfon said, his finger hovering over a grey button. “Good luck.” He nodded and pressed another button, much larger than the window one. 

It made no sound and Spencer was surprised. They had been expecting some kind of mechanical sound or whirling.

Instead, around each desk appeared a personal, frosted bubble. Spencer guessed it was soundproof too. Everything inside this bubble was kept under lock and key. It was new to all the kids—their parents weren’t allowed to speak about what was in The Test or they could face possible death. 

A screen appeared on the frost and a keyboard and mouse grew from the white desk. Hollis didn’t like the quiet of the bubble. It put them on edge. The sound of clicking keys made them glance up at the screen.

WELCOME TO THE GOVERNMENT EXAMINATION FOR NATURAL DESIGNATION ESTABLISHMENT AND RECOGNITION TEST. ANSWER HONESTLY. DO NOT BE AFRAID. TO START, PLEASE TYPE IN YOUR FIRST AND LAST NAME USING THE KEYBOARD.

Spencer cringed at the word “natural” but typed up their name anyway. It seemed like the keyboard was stuck on caps lock, making it seem like the computer was yelling at you. 

SPENCER MARO

It asked a couple of other questions too, like birthdate (August 10), age (14), and what gender you thought you were.

Spencer paused at this one. _Girl or Boy? Boy or Girl?_ The two genders rattled inside Spencer’s head like dice in a cup. _Don’t choose. Answer truthfully_. A voice inside them mumbled. Spencer remembered the two words on the beginning screen: _ANSWER TRUTHFULLY._

Spencer took a deep breath and put their hand to the keyboard. _For Hollis_ , they thought. For _Holly_.

NON-BINARY

~~~

Hollis slowly began answering their own questions, worried sick about Spencer. 

Normally, during classes, Hollis could hear Spencer’s even breathing and their little shifts and movements. Today, with the soundproof shell surrounding them, Hollis felt empty and almost naked without the sounds of Spencer. 

HOLLIS ALUMA

MAY 30

14

The first couple of questions seemed easy enough. When Hollis clicked ‘NEXT QUESTION’ and the page and letters changed, the new question barely registered.

WHAT GENDER DO _YOU_ THINK YOU ARE?

Hollis was surprised by the answer box. They would have thought it would have been a multiple choice question with only two possible answers: Girl and Boy. But, instead, the computer seemed to allow a person to write it themselves. 

It would allow Spencer to write their own gender. For anyone to be someone else.

Hollis quickly typed on the keyboard, the clicking sound calming to hear in the silent bubble.

GIRL

_Next question,_ Hollis thought and continued through the test. 

The screen meshed into drag and drop boxes to the left with all of Hollis’ classmates' names in them. To the right were massive boxes. One was purple and titled “GIRL”. The other was yellow with the word “BOY” in it. 

At the top of the screen were the instructions.

DRAG YOUR CLASSMATES’ NAMES TO WHAT GENDER YOU THINK THEY ARE. WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED, CLICK _NEXT_ OR PRESS ENTER ON THE KEYBOARD

Hollis frowned at the question, recognizing all of their classmates’ names. 

_This is stupid_ , Hollis thought as they began dragging people’s names to the GIRL and BOY boxes. 

Hollis knew their class well—classes were created when everyone was five and they never changed until Grade 10. That was the first year when everyone had their genders assigned and classes mixed and matched.

Hollis kept assigning genders to their classmates, pretty sure that everyone else would be assigning Hollis’ name to the yellow box for the boy’s. Hollis was able to press on the names after they were assigned a box. It moved the boxes back to the left side where Hollis was able to choose a different gender.

Soon, Spencer’s name was the last name unassigned. Hollis had hoped that the ‘next’ button would be able to appear when they had assigned a couple of students. Unfortunately, it seemed as though Hollis would have to put Spencer in a box to continue The Test.

Hollis leaned back in their chair, thinking of a loophole as they slowly read the question once again. Only a couple of words stood out to Hollis.

_OR PRESS ENTER ON THE KEYBOARD_

Hollis grinned to themself and put Spencer’s lonely name with their own in the BOY’S box.

The grey _next_ button appeared in the lower right hand corner. Hollis hovered the mouse over Spencer’s name and their left hand hovered over the enter button on the keyboard. They began to count down in their head. _5...4...3...2...1..._ Now!

Hollis quickly pressed Spencer’s name. It began moving back to the left side. Their left hand harshly clicked the _enter_ key, pressing _next_. 

The screen went completely black for a moment. 

Hollis stared at it, hoping it had worked.

After a moment, the screen went back to white and Hollis crossed their fingers, hoping that it would be the next question instead of repeating the gender assigning one.

ON A SCALE FROM ONE (1), UNEMPATHETIC, TO TEN (10), INCREDIBLY EMPATHETIC, HOW EMPATHETIC ARE YOU?

Hollis breathed out stale air they hadn’t known they had been holding in. Using the mouse, Hollis slid the bar over to the high side at a 7.

The next questions were all personality based and Hollis cringed through them all. What did females and males have to do with this?

If Hollis had been in the government and saw their results, Hollis would have assigned their own gender as male.

They wanted to lie, but the computer’s _ANSWER TRUTHFULLY_ , was burned in the back of their eyelids.

~~~

Mr. Chalfon sat at his desk, looking out into the sea of shells as his students did their Test.

He didn’t like remembering his own Test—his own class, class 13X—but he wondered if his old teacher felt this way when him and his friends had been doing their Test.

All Mr. Chalfon felt was hopelessness. And a sense of dread.

There was a pop and Mr. Chalfon flinched at the sound, his eyes finding a shell in the middle.

The shell fell away and into the floor, revealing Harper, with their large, purple, bow. They stood up from the chair with a grin on their face. Harper held up a sheet of purple paper and squealed. 

“I’m a girl!” Harper exclaimed, jumping up and down. She ran to Mr. Chalfon and hugged him tightly. 

“Congrats,” Mr. Chalfon nodded, unsurprised by Harper’s gender and her response. “You’re free to leave and celebrate at home. Your Gender Reveal cake should be delivered at any moment.” He managed a smile.

Harper squealed yet again and ran out of the class.

More pops rang through class 3A. Murphy and August were revealed with their own gender sheets. The twins were next, and then Frankie and Skyler. 

Mr. Chalfon greeted all of his students like Harper, watching the pure joy and glee on their faces. 

Soon, the class was empty and silent except two frosted shells in a line, one behind the other. Mr. Chalfon had expected Spencer and Hollis to be the last ones (hoping and praying it wouldn’t come to pass, but knowing full well that they would).

Spencer and Hollis. 

Mr. Chalfon remembered the first day they walked into his kindergarten class. Everyone else had found tables of four to sit around but Spencer and Hollis had moved two chairs to sit with one another at a small desk pushed against a wall, only fit for two.

Mr. Chalfon knew those kinds of children well. Him and Taylor had been those kinds of children.

One day, Mr. Chalfon decided to separate the two on opposite sides of the class so they’d interact with the other children more. The both of them—especially Spencer just went mute. They wouldn’t talk or even interact in class discussions. Their grades began to drop and Mr. Chalfon immediately put the two back together again, seeing improvements _that day_.

The sun was setting (Mr. Chalfon had reopened the windows) and Spencer and Hollis’ shells were still up. Most of the school was empty—Mr. Chalfon only heard the soft music from Mr. Shela’s room, probably waiting for his own students’ shells to disappear. 

It was midnight when the click woke Mr. Chalfon from an uneasy and light sleep. He was on his feet in seconds, feeling like the fourteen year old boy he once was, waiting for Taylor. The frosted glass began to disappear into the air and, just like Taylor, the only thing that was in the shell was a desk and chair. Mr. Chalfon sat on the nearest desk, feeling weak, looking to where Spencer and Hollis had been seated just mere hours ago.

They were gone—just like Taylor. Just like all the other students who were not able to fit into the government’s yellow and purple boxes. 

For a long time, Mr. Chalfon just sat there in his thoughts. Two of his students—gone. They would disappear and no one would remember them come a couple of years. 

Their families would move on, getting a generous payment from the government for their loss—maybe even the option to adopt another child to replace their old one. Their classmates would not remember them, they were celebrating in their cozy houses.

Mr. Chalfon knew the government didn’t kill those who disappeared. They wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t kill people who could be of use somewhere else. Taylor was out there somewhere. So was Hollis and Spencer. Hopefully, together.

That night, Mr. Chalfon fell into the same nightmare as always on his uncomfortable bed in the hotel. He dreamt of being fourteen again, in that silent shell; knowing full well he would never see Taylor again. 

That day, doing The Test, he had been lucky. So incredibly lucky. 

Mr. Chalfon knew he could’ve disappeared. He knew who he was—he could not be put in just one yellow or purple box.

He had cheated The Test on fluke—possibly the only person in the outside world who had passed the test, coming out with a gender sheet that did not define them 100%. He was a cheater. And for his punishment, he had to watch Taylor’s hazel eyes disappear into blackness in his dreams over and over again.

~~~

When Spencer opened their eyes, they were in an unfamiliar place with massive tubes and cords running through the ceiling and walls.

Next to her on a cot was Hollis, their eyes obviously just opening as well. “Where—?” Hollis began. “Weren’t we doing The Test—“

A person walked into the room, a clipboard in hand. They had huge bags under their hazel eyes. Their tame tag read: _Taylor_.

“Hello, children,” Taylor said, a tired smile pulling at his face. “You failed _The Test_. Follow me, please. You have much to learn about the inner workings of The Government Examination for Natural Designation Establishment and Recognition Test, or The GENDER Test for short. You’ll be here for a long time.”


End file.
